Touched By An Angel
by serotonin
Summary: AdamZack has a dream about someone from his past.


Touched By An Angel

Adam has a dream about someone from his past.

Disclaimer: none of it belongs to me, though someday Alec will.

~~

"You going to stay up and watch the movie Adam? You won't need to get up as early in the morning, we're going out for Sunday lunch with the Callahorn's, so the others are going to do the work while we're out."

"No. I think I need some sleep."

"Ok then Adam, see you in the morning."

Adam walked up the stairs and into his own bedroom. Pulling off his farm clothes, he pulled on an old shirt and a pair of boxers and got into the bed. Lying his head on the pillow, he lay for a moment, thinking, before he fell asleep.

__

Walking down a road, Adam watched as many military cars passed him by at full speed. It looked like they were chasing after someone, but who, Adam didn't know. Not knowing why, he veered off the road, and into the forest that had just appeared. Looking around, he saw no movement except for the cold wind in the trees.

After fifteen minutes of walking through the forest, he came to a large ten-foot high chain fence, with barbed wire on the top. Instead of walking away, like he would have done in real life, the dream image of him jumped over it, all ten feet. Landing softly on the other side, he didn't look back, but began running.

Running through a large clump of trees, Adam found himself on the edge of a large lake. Stopping, he knelt down and touched the water. It was frozen. Looking up, he saw two children running in his direction from the other side of the lake. He could not tell if they were male or female, because they had buzz cuts, and were dressed in a simple hospital nightgown. Watching them, he also noticed that they had no shoes on, but that fact didn't stop them, even though it was freezing cold.

Before they got halfway across the frozen lake, one of the children fell through the ice. The other knelt next to the hole, yelling "Max!"

The scene vanished, and Adam was standing in a dark alleyway, late at night. He could hear someone talking around the corner, so, keeping close to the wall, he moved over to the corner of the alleyway, and listened.

"What do you want?" a woman asked. 

"How about $15,000." This one was a man. Adam had no idea what they were talking about, or who they were, so he took a quick look. The woman was about 5'6, with dark curly hair, and wearing leather. The man had his back to Adam, so he couldn't tell what he looked like, except that he was fat.

"Oh, damn, you know. I left my wallet in my other pants." 

"In exchange for some information about some fugitives from a project Manticore." 

"What's to stop you from taking my money and blowing me to Lydecker for the daily double?"

"Yeah, right, somebody that keeps me in a cage for two weeks, does complicated painful things to my body. I kind of want to stay away from that person, okay? Far away as possible."

"How do I know what you got's real?" 

"I got your number, didn't I? And there's more where that came from, let me tell you." 

"Yeah, like what?" 

"What if I were to tell you that a pal of yours from this Manticore is right here in Seattle?" 

"Who?" 

"Fifteen grand. Here. Be at this address, 3:30. Day after tomorrow." 

"You're giving me less than 48 hours to come up with 15 grand." 

"Yeah, if you want the information. As for me, I'm getting out of dodge one way or another. Good luck to you, kid." 

"Good luck to both of us." 

__

With that, the man walked one way, while the woman walked the other way, where she got on her bike, and drove away. For a minute, Adam felt an urge inside of him, to go after her, but stopped himself.

Blinking, he found himself in a dark room, an apartment from the looks of it. He saw someone in front of the mirror, the woman who had been talking to the guy just before. He walked over behind her, and grabbed her. 

"It's me, Max!" she cried.

Before Adam could turn her around to look at her, she was gone. He was in another room, a bedroom. He could feel something wet running down his chest, and looking down, saw that it was blood. Weakly, he tried to move, but couldn't. He heard someone come in the door, and tried to hide or get out of there, but all he could do was stand and watch as the person walked in the door, and aimed a high-kick at him. Suddenly she stopped. It was Max.

"Oh my God. Zack?"

Adam wondered who Zack was for a moment, but before he could ask, he was walking into a place called Jam Pony. The man behind the desk looked at him for a moment, before speaking to him.

"Wow, you got a lot of nerve showing your face in here, pal."

"Where's Max?"

He was in the back seat of a car, a black Aztec, and there was a man in the front seat. Adam couldn't see who he was, and didn't really pay any attention to him. Instead, he watched what was happening outside of the car, worried. Relief flooded through him when he saw Max jump down from the roof of a nearby bus, and get into the car.

Driving away, the man asked, "You okay?"

"Yep." Max replied, "We used to play this game all the time at Manticore – escape and evade."

Adam was in a cabin, watching as Max talked to the man in the car. She stood there for five minutes, before she leaned in and kissed him. She then walked away from him, and into the cabin. Later that night, he sat opposite Max in one of the couches, with a glass and a bottle of wine on the table in front of them. Max held a second glass, full of wine, in her hand.

"I know I've been hard on you Max, but I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"I know." Adam reached over to brush a stray piece of hair off her face. 

As soon as his fingers touched the soft, silky hair, he was transported again. He was in a cave, and could feel numerous cuts and bruises all over his body. Listening, he could just hear someone coming. Silently, he walked over and stood to one side of the cave entrance.

Max walked in. "Zack? Zack."

Adam grabbed her around the neck, not about to trust her for any reason.

"Zack, it's me."

"What are you doing here?"

"You're hurting me."

Adam jumped through a window, into a corridor that held Max, another woman, a man and a boy. There were also many soldiers that Adam took down with his gun.

"Is this an invite only, or can anyone come?"

Then he was swinging down to the ground, on a rope, shooting, and stopped at a station wagon. Max helped him take out the men inside, and once done, Max grabbed the child out.

"You got a thing for dramatic entrances, huh?" she asks him.

"I told you he'd try and pull something."

Adam was walking through another apartment, and from the looks of it this one was a penthouse. He could hear noise in the background; it sounded like two people talking. Walking through a room, he came to stand in a doorway, and saw Max on the floor, kissing the man who had been in the car earlier.

"Looks like I caught you at a bad time."

He was in a white glass room, with each of the eight walls divided up into many compartments. Each compartment held a vial of something, and had a barcode on the door. He walked over and looked at them, then turned to Max, who was working with him.

"Max, it's you. And me...and Brin...and Tinga."

"No. Tinga's dead. Come on."

They started setting up explosives along the shelves, and once done, they left the room, heading down the corridor for freedom. Once again, Adam found himself transported, this time he was strapped down to a hospital stretcher, but was struggling to get up. He could see another body in a stretcher, with doctors and nurses all around. There was blood all over the chest of the person. It was Max.

Struggling, he watched as a blonde bitch walked in, and looked over Max.

"What's her condition?"

One of the male doctors answered, "The bullet went clean through. Her right ventricle is collapsed. She's gone."

__

Panting, Adam sat up in his bed. He had no idea who this Max person was, or why she was in his dream, or why so many people had called him Zack.

"None of it's real. It's just a dream Adam. Go back to sleep." He whispered to himself, before rolling over, and going back to sleep.

__

Walking down a road, Adam watched as many military cars passed him by at full speed. It looked like they were chasing after someone, but who, Adam didn't know. Not knowing why, he veered off the road, and into the forest that had just appeared. Looking around, he saw no movement except for the cold wind in the trees.

Suddenly, in front of him appeared a woman. It was the lady, Max, from his previous dream. 

"Zack? What are you doing?"

"I'm not Zack. I'm Adam. I'm afraid you've confused me with someone else, ma'am."

"I guess I have. I'm sorry."

She turned to leave, flicking her hair as she went. On the back of her neck, Adam noticed that she had a barcode. Reading it, he knew that he knew this lady. She was 332960073452. Max. His Maxie.

"Max?" he called after her.

"What did you call me?" she asked, turning around.

"Your name. You're Max. You're my little Maxie."

"Yes. Yes I am your Maxie. It's been such a long time Zack."

"Why do you call me Zack?"

"You used to be Zack. My big brother. You lost your memory, and now you're Adam."

"If I lost my memory, then how do I remember you?"

"Because of an implant in your brain. You didn't actually lose your memory, just the temporal lobe, which keeps track of how all your memories are interconnected. Last time you had to see my face, and read my barcode to remember me."

"Last time?"

"Yes. You lost your implant again just after you found me once more."

"Then why am I Adam?"

"You tried to kill one of my friends. I couldn't risk that happening again."

"Then why are you telling me this now?"  


"Because he's dead."

"Oh. I'm sorry Maxie."

"It's alright."

"But, if he died, why didn't you come find me again?"

"Because I'm dead too."

Adam sat up in his bed, panting once more. 

"That was only a dream Adam. You don't know a Max; you have never known a Max. Just go back to sleep. It wasn't real."

He lay down once more, thinking. Slowly, carefully, he lifted a hand to his face, and wiped away the tears that had gathered there. 

~~

THE END


End file.
